Pianissimo device for grand-piano actions.



AFPLICATIOH FILED APR.15. 1914. L T H l n ?aeme@ Rev z, 191%.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

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W. A. SCHROEDER.

PIANISSIMO DEVICE FOR GRAND PIANO ACTIONS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.15. l l4- Y N 1,294,977. Patented Iwov. I, 1916.

2 SHEEIS-SHEET 2.

PIANISSIMG DEVICE F93, GRAND-PIANG ACTIGNS.

Application filed April 15, 1914.

To all whom it may concern lie it known that l, l VILLIAM 1. Sermon- Dnn, a citizen of the United States of Elmerica and a resident of the city of Everett, in the county of Snohomish and State of Washington, have i vented certain new and usefullmprovements in Pianissimo Devices for Granddiano Actions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its primary aim to provide a mechanism of the above character which will efliciently operate to perform the desired functions, the same being adapted especially for grand pianos.

A further object resides in the novel con struction, arrangement and combination of parts whereby lost motion is provided in obtaining a soft tone.

Still other objects and advantages of as equal importance as the above will be set forth as the description progresses and the salient features and arrangements of parts on which protection is desired will be succinctly defined in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the present invention, reference is had to the following specification and the accompanying drawings wherein Figure l is a vertical section of the preferred embodiment of the invention as applied to a granc piano portions of the piano casing with other details of construction being omitted; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the various mechanisms of the piano-action being in an operative position; Fig. 3 discloses in section the positions assumed by the different mechanisms by depressing the soft tone pedal and arior to a playing operation, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view with parts omitted.

Referring by like characters of reference to like parts throughout the several views of the drawin s, 1 designates the brackets of a grand piano-action the same having. the hammer rail 2, the hammer rest rail 3, flange rails 4 and 5, and regulating rails 6 and 7.

Hammer rail 3 is swingingly secured to the brackets 1 by rods 8 and supports the outer end portions of the hammer shanks 9, the latter being hinged to the hammer flange 10 on the hammer rail The hammer rest rail is swung vertically by a vertically slidable. pedal-actuated rod 11, the lower end of which rests on a link 12 operable by a lever 18 connected to the pedal through the vertical link 14.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented I? v. t 1916.

Serial No. 831,975.

The key frame mounts the keys l6 whic i 'arry on their inner end portions adjustable capstan screws 1? for the stickers or lifter bars 18. Each bar is guided during movement by link guides 19, extending from flange rail 4, and engages under its respective wippen 20 pivoted at 21 to flange 22 on rail .Vippen 20 has an angularly extending heel 23 normally bearing on toe 24 of backcheck butt 25 which latter is pivotally secured to flange 26 of the rail 5. Baclecheck 27 carried by butt is formed with a curved active face 27 to engage the catch 28 of hammer 29. 7

The forward end of each \vippen is furcated to pivotally receive a jack 30 which engages beneath nose 31 on the hammer shank 9 and has a trip arm 32 capable of engagin an adjustable stop of regulating rail 6 on movement of the wippen, to remove the jack from under the buffer and against the tendency of jack spring 34 to retain the jack in its normal position. An adjusting screw 35 bears against spoon. 36 of the wippen to provide a setting means for the jack. The jack spring is mounted on upright support 37 of the respective wippen andcarries an extension 34 bearing upwardly against repetition lever 38, pivoted between its ends to support 37, to yieldingly hold the same from the wippen to receive the nose 31 when released by the ack. Adjusting means 39 on the opposite end of repe tition lever 38 serves as a setting device for h latter while angular stop 40 of the Wipis the end portion of the lever n is bent over :ljacent to the adjusting means 39 to limit toe yieldability thereof. The yieldable end portion of the repetition lever 38, which is slotted to allow of the ack operating therethrough, is adapted to engage a stop 41 of hammer flange 10, on upward movement, slightly in advance of trip arm engaging its sto 3 This provides a space between the nose 31 and repetition lever 38, at the momentthe jack releases the hammen to permit of the latter dropping back instantly on the repetition lever and being engaged by the back-check 27.

The dampers 42 have depending lift rods 43 pivoted to the levers 44 each of which has an extension 44 resting on wiper 45 of the baclncheck butt 25 to be operated thereby. The levers 44 are pivotally carried by a vertically movable slide 46 in the form of a transverse bar, the latter being held in its normal elevated position through leaf springs 47 and connected by lever 4C8, pivoted at 49 between its ends to a fixed part 49, to the pedal actuated rod 11 for reasons hereinafter made apparent.

A spring wire 50, depending from the back-check butt, has its free end fastened by a cord 51 to flange 26 to act as auxiliary to gravity to positively retract the backcheck to its normally inoperative position.

A transverse rod 52 is suspended from rods 8 by means of links 53 adjustable on rods 8. A pivoted link 5 L guides rod 52 and spaces it from the brackets 1. Lost motion or rock levers 55 are pivoted between their ends in lugs 56 on the wippens 20. One end of these rock levers 55 rests upon the rod 52, while their other end is pivoted to the upper end oftheir respective sticker 18.

To obtain a soft note, the corresponding pedal is depressed to vertically slide rod 11 thereby swing the hammer rest rail 3 upwardly to approximately decrease the hammer stroke one-half. Through connections 53, transverse lost-motion rod 52 is raised thereby swinging levers 55, using their connections with the stickers as a fulcrum. This action, through the connection of the depending lugs 56 to the levers 55, swings the wippens upwardly to space them from the stickers. The back-checks are moved by and during the setting of the wippens and the lever extensions 44 are elevated by wipers &5. Through lever 48 the slide 46 is simultaneously lowered whereby the levers 44- are in effect swung about their con nections with the lift rods 43 and the dampers remain on the strings 57 On depressing a key 16, the wippen 20 is raised through sticker 18 and the hammer is elevated by jack 30 until released through stop 33 tripping arm 32 whereupon the hammer drops back from the string 57. Prior to the hammer being released from the jack, stop A1 limits the upward travel of repetition lever 38 to thereby space the latter from the nose 31 and allow of the hammer having an unobstructed reverse or downward travel for an interval. As the wippen effects movement of the hammer, the backcheck is swung to an operative position by heel 23. This movement imparts an upward movement to the damper, from the string, by wiper 45 lifting lever 44.

In producing a loud note, the damper levers 44L are raised as a unit by the actuaonly, and no undue limitation is to be understood therefrom, but the appended claims are to be construed as broadly as is permissible in view of the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, is

1. A grand piano action comprising a frame, arms pivoted upon said frame, a hammer rest rail carried by the swinging ends of said arms, a lost motion device, a bar engaging said lost motion device, links suspended from said arms and secured at their lower ends to said bar, and means for raising said hammer rest rail to thereby raise said lost motion device.

2.7A grand piano action comprising a frame, arms pivoted upon said frame, a hammer rest rail carried by the swinging ends of said arms, a lost-motion device, a bar engaging said lost-motion device, links secured upon and adjustable axially of said arms, and supporting said bar at their lower ends, and means for raising said hammer rest rail to thereby raise said lost motion device.

Signed at Seattle, \Vashington, this 2nd day of April, 1914.

WILLIAM A. SCHROEDER.

lVitnesses:

E. ARLITA ADAMS, CLARA A. HARM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

